The Ring in Toril
by dorac
Summary: Todoroki and his squad meets Yaoyorozu and decides to help her with her cursed item. A BNHA dungeons and dragons AU with eventual todomomo and kamijirou (2 parts)


**BNHA Dungeon & Dragon AU**

The nervous traveler pulled out a potion from her satchel and took a deep breath.

She peeked at the labels one final time then raised it slowly towards her trembling lips. The container was as small as the grip of her palm, but she knew better than to discount its potency. She threw her head back and downed its contents in one gulp; the taste of metal oozed from her mouth to the back of her throat.

A chubby store owner looked up from behind a counter. His eyes were wide in disbelief.

"For the love of Talos, drinking a Potion of Master Thievery right in front of me?"

"I-" The girl gasped, her cheeks flushed to the color of scarlet. "I thought computer controlled characters can only interact with others in a predetermined-"

"That was patched yeeeears ago…"

"Ah! Shoot! I- I'm sorry mister. Please forgive me, I have no-"

"Sheesh..." the man rolled his eyes briefly at this ridiculous juncture. When he looked at her again, she noticed a hint of compassion in his voice. "What level are you, anyways?"

She looked down at her toes, "…three…"

"Ack, whatever." He waved her off. "But by the sound of that you're too weak to use my equipment too. Go kill some kobold to level up, you know? There's an open field not far from here…"

"Yes mister!"

The shy girl nodded her head eagerly as she dragged her feet towards the front door. Her face still red hot from before, the only consolation being that there was nobody else there to see her.

She took a few steps away before the man called out again.

"You know what…" he said sympathetically, motioning her to come back. "A traveler left this thing here awhile back. It looks powerful, but I don't have the means to _identify_ it. If you want it, it's all yours."

He held up a strange looking ring and pinched it between his fingers. The girl was speechless.

At first, she looked at it. Then, it looked back. Her gaze gravitated uneasily towards two green gemstones that filled the eye sockets of a tiny skull-shaped emblem. It sat in place of the center stone. The band was thick and entirely ancient, but there was no denying the magic that seeped from it.

"I- I don't know what this is either but… I bet it'd fetch you some good coins?"

"Yes – but I don't want to be associated with selling magical items, you see." The man added. "But please, I insist. It'll do way more good in your hands than mine."

The girl could fire off a hundred ways he's wrong, but the fact remained: she couldn't take her eyes off of it. She knew she had no business wearing a ring this powerful, but another thought quietly snuck in. If she had something like this, she reasoned, her family may still be alive.

"So?"

She gave in at last. At worst, she'll sell it for a few coins.

"O- Okay! I'm sure I can take it to the temple and one of the nice priests there can help me..."

"Fantastic!" He said. "Please, be careful with it."

She was barely out of the shop before she playfully stuck her finger through its deathly hollow.

* * *

"Oh come on, you must have heard of Drizzt Do'Urden. The first interracial couple in ALL of Toril?"

"OF COURSE I HAVE! You are an idiot Kaminari. For all he's done to preserve the peace in our times, you remember him as the drow who banged up a human chick?"

"Well, I for one, believe the continuity of our mixed gene pool is vital to the-"

"Please stop." Jirou pressed her hand against her forehead. "Todoroki, what do you think?"

The confirmation she waited for never came. Instead, she found him completely distracted, eyes dancing from one street merchant to the next, oblivious to their admittedly pointless discussion.

"Huh? Sorry-" Jirou's stare jolted him back to life.

"… Never mind."

Daylight was barely visible over the horizon, but the bazaar was already bustling with travelers. Scattered wagons decorated the dirt road while the sun tainted the market a serene orange. Merchants wrestled with each other for the most profitable spots, offering food, spices, magical scrolls (authenticity not verified).

The three travellers expertly maneuvered themselves through the crowd, juggling their weapons in one hand and coin pouches in the other. Once in a while, frightened animals would stomp through the narrow alleyway, leaving behind a dirt cloud that masked the smell of sweat and rotting carcass.

"Alright – I'll bite." Kaminari said at last. "What in the world are we doing here, Todoroki? Buying gifts for the girlfriend you don't have?"

"Be patient, Kaminari. We're bounty hunters, we don't exactly _advertise."_

"HA!" Kaminari snickered and held up a finger as if he uncovered a giant revelation. "BUT – if we never advertise, how would anyone know to look-… Oh... Fuck."

Jirou grabbed Kaminari's enchanted spear Carosymr off his back and held it in front of him.

"Do you see anyone else with a weapon this obvious?" she said.

"YOU-"

"Wait! STOP-" Todoroki shouted, pointing his finger up ahead. "That girl! She-"

In a distance, a young lady was curled up on the ground with her left hand holding a fist around her finger. The skin around her hand had a startling purple tint, which was rapidly spreading up her arms. Todoroki's words trailed off as he bolted down the street, knocking down a drunkard in the process.

"Hold still!" He commanded her as he bent over, grabbing onto her shoulder while she shook violently. Activating his ice quirk, he crystallized the girl's arm, stopping the infection from reaching her body.

With his free hand, he unclenched her fist and slipped his fingers over hers. An intense heat radiated from them. Todoroki locked their hands together and mumbled under his breath, casting a _cure serious wounds_ spell. In seconds, the purple plague began to recede, circling back to a peculiar ring fixated on her finger.

"T-Thank you mister, thank you so much…" she whispered, holding back tears. The pain had subsided considerably, and so has her composure. "It's stuck… I can't take it off…"

Kaminari and Jirou looked down in horror, speechless.

"That's because it's a cursed item…" Todoroki said in between breaths. "We need to ask-"

"WAIT!" Jirou yelled. "I recognize it."

As a ranger specialized in tracking, she had the highest lore of the group.

"But this… this can't be. This is the Ring of Gul. It belonged to a demi-lich Kazit Gul, but I haven't heard of him since at least… 578."

"So… what do we do now?" Kaminari interjected.

"We can either leave her at the temple and wait for Reverend Elminster to take a look, or-"

"No, we're not leaving her here." Todoroki jumped in. "What's the other option?"

"Go to the Graveyard District. If we can find his crypt, we can also defeat him and lift the curse that way. And don't worry Kaminari – the treasures in there will be worth ALL your troubles."

"TSK! Who said that's what I care about!?"

"I-" the girl spoke up, her voice trembling. "I'm only level three… I can barely-"

"Don't worry!" Jirou wrapped her arms around her and lifted her up. "We'll keep you safe. Let's go!"

"What's your name, by the way?"

"Yaoyorozu." She said, smiling.

* * *

A few steps away from the village, Kaminari burst out into laughter.

"Yaoyorozu, not to be mean or anything…" The warrior still couldn't contain himself. "You saw the giant skull on the front of that thing right? That looks – C _ursed... As… Fuck…_ "

Before Yaoyorozu could even get a chance to respond, an iron fist flew out from Jirou's arms. It landed squarely on Kaminari's jaws, sending him tumbling over a sand dune.

The journey to the Graveyard District took up a big part of the day, as it was close to nightfall when they reached the cemetery. The area was quiet and devoid of life, short for a few stray animals still scavenging nearby. Kaminari's Ankheg plate armor clanked as he walked, breaking up the eerie silence.

The district was roughly the size of a small village, encircled by dense vegetation from all directions. A large but otherwise plain-looking chapel sat in the middle. Around it were several well-kept altars that doubled as the entryway for what must be extravagant underground chambers.

Jirou led the group towards the center, carefully recalling from her memory the lost relic that transcribed the tomb's location. Mid-way through her quiet mumbling, however, she stopped and held up a fist in the air. Todoroki looked in silence as she bent down to plug her jacks into her boots.

"We've got company." She said at last, calmly.

"Heh!" Kaminari uttered. "I was getting bored! LET'S GO!"

"They're strong…" She continued, completely ignoring Kaminari's remarks. "They'll be here in less than two minute. We need-"

Before she could finish, a shadowy figure seemingly emerged out of thin air and started sprinting towards them. His target though, was singular. Yaoyorozu gasped. Her legs grew weak… and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move them.

Kaminari reached for his weapon, but it was no use. The assassin closed the distance in a blink of an eye and pulled out a poisoned dagger from his belt. Yaoyorozu helplessly stacked her arms in front of her as the assailant lunged forward. But just before the blade touched her arms, an outer skin of stone rose from the ground and enveloped her body. The assassin staggered a few steps back.

"A _CONTINGENCY_ SPELL, GOOD ONE TODOROKI!" Kaminari yelled as he turned to face the killer.

The _contingency_ spell is an ability casted beforehand that takes effect when someone is in danger. It can only be used once, but the delay was all the time Todoroki needed. The assassin tried for a second attempt by downing another potion of invisibility, but the battle mage was ready. He clenched his fist and two ice shards shot up from under the man, holding his now-invisible outline in place.

Without another word, Kaminari pulled out his Carosymr, supercharged it with electricity, and launched it sharply towards the assassin. The spear made a direct hit. It stopped in midair as it lodged itself into the man's body. Blood began gushing from all directions.

Yaoyorozu fell down in shock as the other three jumped in to form a triangle around her.

Some few meters away, a fleeting wind picked up the scattered leaves of yester-season and hurled it into a dance. The sun had fallen off the horizon and a blanket of dark clouds billowed into its place.

The heroes readied their weapons with their backs against each other.

To their surprise, the rest of the party unceremoniously appeared right in front of them. A _dimension door_ appeared near the chapel and out walked five well-equipped men. The first two were a fighter and an archer, followed by two magic users. The leader of the group came out last. He was an underwhelming dwarf fighter with a sparkling pink warhammer.

In formation, the men's battle-hardened composures were both admirable and unequivocally chilling. They wore the same silver crest around their chest, a reminder to the world of much darker days.

"Iron Throne mercenaries…" Jirou mumbled, "I think I know what they're after…"

On the dwarf's command, the priest began casting defensive spells, turning the warriors into invulnerable killing machines. From afar, the archer took aim, and a sea of arrows began ploughing through the sky.

Todoroki grabbed Yaoyorozu by her waist and dived behind a tombstone. A flaming arrow shot past them and drilled itself into the base of a tree, setting it ablaze. Jirou deftly jumped out of the line of fire before firing off a shockwave of her own towards the enemy. It had little effect on the two warriors now gunning towards her, but her blast temporarily repelled the arrows away.

Kaminari chugged down a _Potion of Frost Giant Strength_ and slammed his spear into the ground, creating a static field around the four of them. He then pulled off a few _darts of stunning_ from his waist and hurled it towards the dwarf. It dug into his armor, but the dart's effects were negated by the defensive spells.

"FUCK!" Kaminari muttered. "Here they come…"

The two warriors picked up speed as they closed in, completely unfazed by the barrier. Jirou positioned herself for another shockwave, but she was completely caught off guard by their next move.

With perfect coordination, the sorcerer in the back casted a _polymorph_ spell on the two warriors, turning them into flesh golems with immunity to electricity. The ground shook violently with the metamorphosis and a destructive fissure shot across the field. Jirou lost her footing and fell on her back.

A monstrous fist connected on her body moments later.

Yaoyorozu let out a startled cry. She impulsively poked her head out over the barricade but was quickly yanked back in. She watched helplessly as Jirou's body tumbled backwards like a rock skipping on water.

At last, a layer of ice shot out from below and shielded her fall. Yaoyorozu took a deep breath and turned to look over her shoulder. Todoroki was sitting with his back against the tombstone, panting laboriously.

Kaminari took the opening to launch a counterattack. Even though the golems were immune to electricity, the shapeshifting spell meant that they were also without the protection of their usual armor. Kaminari ran up to the golem who swung at Jirou and spiked his spear into his flesh. As expected, the weapon sunk in.

Using the spear as a momentum, the warrior dodged the golem's incoming fist and vaulted himself over the towering monster. As he flipped over the giant's head, Kaminari spun around and carved a horizontal slit across the back of his neck. The golem clumsily swung his arms back before letting out a wild growl.

"FUCK! YOU!" Kaminari screamed at the top of his lungs. Splatter of blood streaked down his cheeks.

Unknown to him, however, the archer had camouflaged himself in the woods. As Kaminari turned to face the second golem, the archer fired off an _arrow of biting_ and drilled it into his back. The Ankheg armor protected him against the arrow's penetrating force, but the effect of the poison was immediate.

Kaminari felt his heartbeat speed up, but he was in no position to inspect his wounds. Instead, he made a run for the fallen golem to retrieve his weapon. As he ran, paralysis started to set in. He took a few more steps before tumbling and face-planting into the muddy earth.

As he fell, he saw the world spinning around him. And at last, a curtain of darkness draped over his eyes.

"What do we do… what do we do?" Yaoyorozu whimpered frantically as she held on to Todoroki's arms.

The battle mage peaked over his shoulder, as composed as ever.

"We have to get them to safety. Pick up Jirou and meet me back here!"

Before she got a chance to say anything, Todoroki ran out into the open, firing off a barrage of _fireballs_ to cover for his tracks. The other golem saw what he was trying to do and began charging towards Kaminari. They both got to his now-trembling body at almost exactly the same time.

Instead of trying to pick him up, however, Todoroki purposely overshot his position and slid between the golem's legs. He grabbed onto them as they came into range and instantly activated his quirks with max power. One of the golem's legs immediately froze solid while the other burned to a crisp.

Todoroki continued with the offensive by thrusting his palms against the golem's back and channeling a _sunfire_ spell into the core of his body. To his surprise, the golem absorbed the bulk of his spell and used it to propel himself straight up into the air. As he dropped down, he reverted his body back to his dwarven-form and greeted Todoroki with a scorching hammerhead.

The battlemage darted back in surprise. He had hoped to disable their leader quickly so that he could deal with the rest of his party, but it had become apparent that this wasn't going to be the case. He glance a look towards Yaoyorozu and Jirou, and his heart sank.

The archer, now wielding a long sword, had closed the distance and taken Yaoyorozu and Jirou hostage. Her staff was broken in two and flung some distance away, evidence of a quick submission.

Todoroki hastily scanned her body for any signs of her condition. Her face was as pale as a corpse. And even at that distance, he could make out the tremors of her tiny body. She kneeled on the ground in front of the archer with her hands behind her head.

"On your order, Commander!" The archer shouted back at the lull of battle.

"Ay, Good work Baron." The dwarven fighter brushed off the dirt from his armor and looked towards the two girls. "Th' ranger be useless fer us. Kill th' girl now!"

"NO-" Todoroki blurted out. "She-"

"Save it ye slag. Me deal with ye next!"

The archer raised his sword and aimed it to the back of her neck. But as he slashed downwards, a piercing ray emanated from Yaoyorozu's eyes. The archer dashed back into the safety of the forest while the two fighters looked on. Disregarding their previous contest, they looked at her with equal bewilderment.

Todoroki sprinted towards her to try to help, but an intense force field kept him from moving any closer. Yaoyorozu screamed out a deafening wail as her body levitated. She no longer had control of herself. In a demonic voice, she blurted out a series of incantations, and a cloud of fog submerged the entire battlefield.

Within seconds, the dwarf and his men were completely immobilized. His entire party was now curled up on the ground, gasping for air.

 _What in the world._ A billion thoughts raced through Todoroki's mind.

Yaoyorozu had casted _Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting_ , an eighth level necromancy spell.

But as quick as it began, the beams faded from her eyes as she plopped back down to earth. She heaved heavily for a good ten seconds. When she finally looked up, her eyes met Todoroki's and a stream of tears rolled down her face. A complete reversal of her natural innocence.

Todoroki walked up to the frightened girl and kneeled down. He wrapped his arms around her and lightly warmed up her frigid and cold body.

"Whatever that was, we will figure it out soon." Todoroki said calmly. "Let's move underground before more parties show up."

Todoroki lifted Kaminari over his shoulder while Yaoyorozu cradled Jirou in her arms. Slow and steady, shoulder to shoulder, the pair walked into the nearest altar and descended into the catacombs below.

* * *

 _ **(End of Part 1)**_


End file.
